Dyslipidemia and diseases related to dyslipidemia e.g. atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease, stroke, etc., are major causes of death, morbidity, and economic loss. Plasma lipids, especially cholesterol fractions, are recognized as having a significant role in cardiovascular health. Favorable modulation of plasma lipids such as triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol is desirable.
Numerous efforts are underway to provide safe and efficacious molecular entities for the treatment of diseases related to dyslipidemia. For example, International application WO 2004/048349 A1 discloses compounds useful as farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists.
FXR agonists are ligands for a nuclear receptor that regulates the transcription of genes that control triglyceride, cholesterol, and carbohydrate metabolism. The above efforts and others not withstanding, there remains a need to discover and develop compounds that are believed to be (1) potent, (2) efficacious (based on in-vivo models) and/or (3) selective agonists of FXR. Such compounds would be useful for treatment of disorders characterized by or resulting from an undesirable lipid profile including dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, diabetes and related diseases.
The present invention provides compounds that that are believed to be (1) potent, (2) efficacious (based on in-vivo models) and/or (3) selective agonists of the FXR.